This Wednesday: Modern Worship Collective @ 7 pm (Dinner @ 6!)

Dear Kris,

This week we’re going to be continuing in our Confirmation Worship series, initiated by Pastor Rich. This is a time when our whole community joins with our young students in thinking through some of the essential parts of our faith and tradition. This year, Pastor Rich has asked us to think about how we live out our faith in mission.

Being active in mission in the world has been one of the most important parts of my own life in faith – and I know that’s true for many in our community. But one thing I struggle with, if I’m honest, is always feeling like I’m connecting that action-in-the-world with the spiritual side of our tradition.

That’s why I thought I’d turn to some of our partners at Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. PDA leaders help people who are going through some of the worst moments anyone can face, and they do it always firmly grounded in their spiritual selves. So, I’ll be bringing in a bit of conversation with Rev. Dr. Kathy Riley, Associate for Spiritual and Emotional Care at PDA.

I hope you’ll join us to hear what she has to say, and to dig into a key part of our faith together!

Peace,

Hardy

Please join us immediately following the Sunday service for our Coffee Hour

(in-person in Trinity Court or online via Zoom).

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

“Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union, even if we are bitter or insane or broken. (In fact, these are probably the best possible conditions under which to pray.) Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape.”

Anne Lamott, Help, Thanks, Wow: Three Essential Prayers

• Has there been a time in your life when you really, really prayed? What was happening then?

• Do you see people engaging in prayer in the church or in the world around you in ways that don’t make sense to you, or that seem wrong? What’s happening in those moments?

Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

before the gods I sing your praise;

I bow down toward your holy temple

and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

for you have exalted your name and your word

above everything.

On the day I called, you answered me;

you increased my strength of soul.

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,

for they have heard the words of your mouth.

They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,

for great is the glory of the Lord.

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,

but the haughty he perceives from far away.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;

you stretch out your hand,

and your right hand delivers me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake the work of your hands.